This blog is to propagate genuine Catholic devotions in the spirit of Traditional Carmel by providing texts useful for spiritual readings and meditations. "The devil knows that he has lost the soul that perseveringly practices mental prayer" - St Teresa of Avila. "For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord; and ourselves your servants through Jesus" (2Cor 4:5). Soli Deo honor et gloria.
The blog is lovingly dedicated to the Infant Jesus of Prague and under His Patronage

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Rm 10:10-18. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith: Whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded. For there is no distinction of the Jew and the Greek: for the same is Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things? But all do not obey the gospel. For Isaias saith: Lord, who hath believed our report? Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily: Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the whole world.

A charge to go and preach to all nations was given by Christ to his apostles. This commission the pastors of the church have faithfully executed down to this present time; and in every age men have been raised by God and filled with His Holy Spirit for the discharge of this important function who, being sent by the authority of Christ and His Name by those who have succeeded the apostles in the government of His church,have brought new nations to the fold of Christ for the advancement of the divine honor and filling up the number of the saints. This conversion of nations according to the divine commission is the prerogative of the Catholic Church, in which it has never had any rival.

Of all the valiant messengers of the divine Word who have, during the last few hundred years, proclaimed the good tidings among infidel nations, there is not one whose glory is greater, who has worked greater wonders or who has shown himself a closer imitator of the first apostles than the modern apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier. He labored only ten years in the missions before he was taken to heaven. And what years they were! In so brief a time, this one man, animated by God in a most extraordinary way, won for Christ over a million souls.

The life and apostolate of this wonderful man were a great triumph for our mother the holy Catholic Church; for St. Francis came just at a period when heresy, encouraged by false learning, by political intrigues, by covetousness and by all the wicked passions of the human heart, seemed on the eve of victory. Emboldened by all these, this enemy of God spoke, with the deepest contempt, of that ancient Church which rested on the promises of Jesus Christ; it declared that she was unworthy of the confidence of men, and dared even to call her the harlot of Babylon, as though the vices of her children could taint the purity of the mother. God's time came at last, and He showed Himself in His power: the garden of the Church suddenly appeared rich in the most admirable fruits of sanctity. Heroes and heroines issued from that apparent barrenness; and while the pretended reformers showed themselves to be the most wicked of men, two countries, Italy and Spain, gave to the world the most magnificent saints.

The sixteenth century is worthy of comparison with any other age of the Church. The so-called reformers of those times gave little proof of their desire to convert infidel countries, when their only zeal was to bury Christianity beneath the ruin of her churches. But at that very time, a society of apostles was offering itself to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send them to plant the true faith among people who were sitting in the thickest shades of death. But, we repeat, not one of these holy menso closely imitated the first apostles as did Francis, the disciple of Ignatius. He had all the marks and labors of an apostle: an immense world of people evangelized by his zeal, hundred of thousands of infidels baptized by his indefatigable ministration, and miracles of every kind, which proved him, to the infidel, to be marked with the sign which they received who, living in the flesh, planted the Church, as the Church speaks in her liturgy. So that, in the sixteenth century, the east received from the ever holy city of Rome an apostle, who, by his character and his works, resembled those earlier ones sent her by Jesus Himself. May our Lord Jesus be forever praised for having vindicated the honor of the Church, His bride, by raising up Francis Xavier, and giving to men, in this His servant, a representation of what the first apostles were, whom He sent to preach the Gospel when the whole world was pagan.

St. Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in Navarre, Spain not far from the present French border. Incredible were the labors of the saint. His food was the same as that of the poorest people, rice and water. His sleep was but three hours a night at most and that in a fisherman's cabin on the ground. The remainder of the night he passed with God or with his neighbor. In the midst of the hurry of his external employments, he ceased not to converse interiorly with God, who bestowed on him such an excess of interior spiritual delights that he was often obliged to desire the divine goodness to moderate them.

His day began on his knees praying for guidance for the day lying ahead. Prayer was followed by offering of the Mass. The intensity of his preoccupation with the mysteries of the altar filled with the awe the little group of the faithful who came for the Holy Sacrifice at dawn. "Frequently," one learns, "the Father seemed transfigured at his Mass. Especially at the elevation when he was seen raised in the air, and a radiant light streamed about his head." Reference is made in all hisbiographies to this matter of levitation. It happened during his Mass and occasionally when he was distributing Holy Communion upon his knees, his usual posture for giving the Bread of Life to his people.

Miracles, the likes of which the world has never before witnessed, began to follow the servant of God wherever he ventured. In Travancore, God, for the first time, bestowed upon His servant the gift of tongues. It happened suddenly, before an immense crowd of people who had gathered in some remote area to hear the man whose name had been echoed up and down the coast as far north as Calcutta. As the holy priest opened his mouth to give word to the interpreter, he began to speak in the very Tamilese dialect proper to the audience before him. Moreover, at other times, as the crowds grew even larger, many different tribes, composed of as many varying dialects, all simultaneously heard the foreigner speak as if he had been raised among them. But hear even more! If the glory of God were not manifest enough in these prodigies, an even greater one occurred. For as the crowds continued to swell, often reaching as many as ten thousand, the missionary inevitably would be bombarded with a deluge of questions, too many for him to have satisfied even one percent of the inquiries. Thegenerosity of our heavenly Father, however, was not to be outdone. As the wonder worker opened his mouth to answer a question (in a tongue he had never spoken) the very waves of his voice were transformed in mid-air so as to bring home to the ears of his listeners as many answers to as many different questions as had been hurled at him. Indeed "the Lord is good to them that seek him!" (Lam:3:25) This phenomenon, as well as so many others, drew forth converts by the droves. Whole villages, en masse, together with their rajah, vied with one another to be the first to receive the savingwaters of Baptism.

As the saint was preaching one day at Coulon, a village in Travancore near Cape Comorin, perceiving that few were converted by his discourse, he made a short prayer that God would honor the blood and name of His beloved Son by softening the hearts of the most obdurate. Then he bade some of the people open the grave of a man who was buried the day before, near the place where he preached; and the body was beginning to putrefy with a noisome scent, which he desired the bystanders to observe. Then falling on his knees, after a short prayer, he commanded the dead man in the Name of the living God to arise. At these words the dead man arose and appeared not only living but vigorous and in perfect health. All who were present were so struck with this evidence that, throwing themselves at the saint's feet, they demanded baptism. The holy man also raised to life, on the same coast, a young man who was a Christian, whose corpse he met as it was being carried to the grave. To preserve the memory of this wonderful action, the parents of the deceased, who were present, erected a great cross on the place where the miracle was wrought. These miracles made so great impressions on the people, that the whole kingdom of Travancore was subjected to Christ in a few months, except the king and some of his courtiers.

Our saint raised about 25 people from the dead. He built over 100 churches. He destroyed forty thousand idols in the pagan East. After ten and a half years of tremendously successful work in the Indies and Japan, St. Francis wished to continue his missionary work in China. He took passage on a Portuguese ship to the island of Sancian on the coast of China; but Almighty God was pleased to accept his will in this good work and took him to Himself. A fever seized the saint on the 20th of November, and at the same he had a clear knowledge of the day and hour of his death, which heopenly declared to a friend, who afterwards made an authentic deposition of it by a solemn oath. On the 2nd of December, having his eyes all bathed in tears and fixed with great tenderness of soul upon his crucifix, he pronounced these words, "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; I shall not be confounded for ever"; and at the same instant, transported with celestial joy which appeared upon his countenance, he sweetly gave up the ghost in 1552.

In what remains of the story of St. Francis Xavier, the world catches a glimpse of what Our Dear Lord thought of the saint. Truly the hand of God is here. The burial of Francis' body took place upon the day he died. His face after death stayed beautiful with such red coloring that he seemed yet alive. The Portuguese Captain and two others carried the corpse to a hastily dug grave. Two bags of quicklime were poured about the body. It was with the purpose of bringing the bones of the saint back to India later when convenient that the quicklime was used so that all would be decomposed except the bones. In mid February, when it was time for the ship to returnto Malacca, the coffin was exhumed and opened with the covering of lime removed. Now we see the finger of God begins to write the record of divine approval of Francis Xavier. His body is found unaffected by the lime. It is fresh and with the red glow of health which gives the appearance, not of death, but of sleep. The flesh is soft and blood still stands in the veins. An incision made near the left knee bleeds freely. Late in the evening of March 22nd, the vessel reached Malacca. The plague which for some weeks had laid waste to the town, all of a sudden ceased. The body was interred in a damp church yard; yet in August, was found entire, fresh and still exhaling a sweet odor and being honorably put into a ship, was transported to Goa,where it was received and placed in the church in the college of St. Paul on the 15th of March in 1554; upon which occasion several blind persons recovered their sight and others, sick of palsies and other diseases, recovered their health and the use of their limbs. The body of our Saint is still incorrupt residing in a glass coffin in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India.

Holy zeal may properly be said to have formed the character of St. Francis Xavier. Consumed with an insatiable thirst for the salvation of souls and of the expansion of the honor and kingdom of Christ on earth, he ceased not with tears and prayers to conjure the Father of all men not to suffer those to perish whom He had created in His own divine image, made capable of knowing and loving Him and redeemed with the adorable blood of His Son.

St. Francis was a model for missionaries, formed upon the spirit of the apostles. So absolute a master he was of his passions that he knew not what it was to have the least notion of anger or impatience and in all events was perfectly resigned to the Divine Will; from whence proceeded an admirable tranquility of soul, a perpetual cheerfulness and equality of countenance. He rejoiced in afflictions and sufferings and said that one who had once experienced the sweetness of suffering for Christ, will ever after find it worse than death to live without a cross. By humility the saint was always ready to follow the advice of others and attributed all blessings to their prayers which he most earnestly implored. St. Francis Xavier was canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622, and was proclaimed "Patron of Missions", a title he shares with St. Theresa of Lisieux.

ou will find a more extensive article on the life of St. Francis Xavier, which you are welcome to print and distribute, at Our Lady of the Rosary Library.

THE INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE

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ABOUT CARMELITES

This is the Carmelite shield of the Ancient Observance. The palm and the lily signifies the first saints of the order: St. Angelus of Sicily (signified by the palm of martyrdom) and St. Albert of Trapani (signified by the lily). Six pieces of spiritual armour are described in the rule of the Order; the cincture is the symbol of purity, indispensable for one who desires to reach the holy mountain of the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God". The corselet which protects the vital parts of the body represents good thoughts: "Holy thoughts will protect you". The breastplate which covers the whole body represents justice, a well regulated life, the observance of the commandments and duties of daily life. The shield is faith; for a living faith is the best safeguard for the spiritual life. The helmet symbolizes hope, confidence in God, which gives us the right to walk with freedom and confidence. Finally, the sword indicates conversation with God which as a double edge blade comes to our aid and defends us in all our difficulties.

Carmelites are one of four mendicant religious Orders, originally founded in ancient Palestine with spirituality drawn from the imitation of the holy Prophet Elijah and zealous veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Order is dedicated to Our Lady, she is particularly honoured and venerated by Carmelites and the life of Carmelite should be focused on imitation of Mary. Devotion of the Brown Scapular, Mary's habit, caused Carmelites to be known as "Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel", to which Popes and Bishops attached indulgences. The oldest preserved constitution of the Order, established during General Chapter of Barcelona (1324), tells us that from the times of the holy Prophets, Elijah and Elisha, devout hermits lived continuously on Mt. Carmel, sought this holy mountain and loved its solitude in order to give their minds over to the contemplation of heavenly things; they built a chapel there in honor of the Virgin and thus deserved to be called the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a name recognized by Popes. St. Albert gave them a rule which was approved and the Carmelites, as we know them today, are successors of these holy hermits. Therefore, from its origin, their spirituality has been founded on these two specific elements, an imitation of the holy Prophet Elijah and veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary (from Bl Titus Brandsma - "Lectures on Carmelite Spirituality" - Carmelnet).

Carmel in Toledo - Under Our Lady's mantle - St Elijah in Carmelite habit in company of other prophets (lower left panel). Picture credit: Karmel im Heiligen Land

Therefore, since the beginning of this blog established to promote Carmelite spirituality, special care has been taken to dedicate meditations of Saturday - day of Our Lady in Church's tradition - in honour and veneration of the Blessed Virgin, the ever glorious Patroness of all Carmelites.

ST ELIJAH AND CARMELITE SPIRITUALITY

1Kings 17:4 - Elijah by the brook of Cherith

In The Book of the First Monks, a medieval Carmelite work on the spirit of the order, the following teaching stands out: "The goal of this life is twofold. One part we acquire, with the help of divine grace, through our efforts and virtuous works. This is to offer God a pure heart, free from all stain of actual sin. We do this when we are perfect and in Cherith, that is, hidden in that charity of which we read:"Charity covers all sins " (Prov. 10:12). God desired Elijah to advance thus far when he said to him: "Hide yourself by the brook Cherith " (1 Kings 17:3-4).The other part of the goal of this life is granted us as the free gift of God: namely, to taste somewhat in the heart and to experience in the soul, not only after death but even in this mortal life, the intensity of the divine presence and the sweetness of the glory of heaven. This is to drink of the torrent of the love of God. God promised it to Elijah in the words: "You shall drink from the brook. "It is in view of this double end that the monk ought to give himself to the eremitic and prophetic life" (after Carmelites.com).

Prophet Elijah testimony: "I have burned with zeal for the Lord God of hosts" (1 Kings 19:9) - has become spiritual motto of Carmelites

The greatest achievement of Elijah's life was his victory over the priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel. Having heard that the other prophets of Yahwh were also persecuted, he requested King Ahab to gather the people of Israel, the 450 priests of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Ashtaroth on Mt. Carmel. Then he asked Israel the famous question of 1 Kings 18:21: "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him", meaning, "How long will ye be undecided as to whether ye shall follow Yahwh or Baal?"The people remaining silent. He invited the priests of Baal to a contest, proposing that he and they should each build an altar and lay a burnt offering thereon, and that the God who should send down fire from heaven to consume the offering should be accepted as the true God. After various unsuccessful attempts to get a favorable answer had been made by the prophets of Baal, while they were ridiculed with subtle irony by Elijah, Elijah prayed, and Yahwh sent fire from heaven to consume his offering. Yahwh was recognized by Israel, and the priests of Baal were slain by the people near the brook Kishon (1 Kings 18:17-40).

TWO CARMELITE ORDERS - TWO BRANCHES OF THE SAME TRUNK

Looking at Carmel from above, its two branches are united at their summits. Despite the separation which exists on the trunk, the two branches intermingle their foliage and blossoms without our being able to distinguish those which belong to the one from those which belong to the other. The blind singer of Rennes, Ven. John of St. Samson, does not have a different melody from that of the inspired singer imprisoned in the Carmel of Toledo, because both repeat what the Institutio primorum monachorum had inculcated in the Carmelites of the first centuries, namely, that all Carmelites, Brothers and Sisters of the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, in order to be faithful to their vocation should do their very utmost to go, under the guidance of the saintly hermit and prophet Elijah, across the desert of this life up to the Mt. Horeb of the vision of God, strengthened by the heavenly nourishment which is shown on the altar. (Bl Titus Brandsma, Lectures)

About Me

'Jay' stands for the phonetics of my first name initial 'J', as I have chosen anonymity in blogging. I am 'cradle' Roman Catholic, happy wife, mother and grandmother. I am professed Discalced Carmelite tertiary now, who loves and respects Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Holy Tradition of the RC Church - "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle" (2Thes 2:14), and: "Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ” (St. Athanasius, AD 373). In my devotion to Church's Tradition and Tridentine Mass I am with the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales and in union with the Holy Roman Catholic Church. In conclusion, the aim of this blog is to present and propagate traditional Catholic devotions, piety and Carmelite Spirituality in the richness of Tradition. All my efforts are aimed to help to preserve Catholic identity. The idea of this project is entirely private and comes from my own convictions and understanding of Catholicism.

The life of St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Traditional Rite Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Valparaido, Nebraska

Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Christoval, Texas

TRADITIONAL RITE CARMELITE MONKS OF WYOMING

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TRADITIONAL RITE THIRD ORDER CARMELITES

Traditional Latin Rite Third Order of Carmelites of Ancient Observance from Campos, Brasil was originally established on 13 May 1752. Their spiritual director is Rev. Father Everaldo Bon Robert, who is also O. Carm Tertiary. The Order numbers 150 members, among them 15 priests, 3 religious brothers of “conventual life” plus some associated Regular Third Order Sisters. The Order is under jurisdiction of the Personal Apostolic Administration of St. John Mary Vianney, which was created by the Holy See in 2002 for the Traditional Catholics of the Latin Rite in Brazil under administration of the Bishop Fernando Areas Rifan. In their church, the Traditional Latin Mass is the only Mass celebrated and every member of the Order pray Saturday's Rosary fervently in honour of the Queen and Mother of Carmel to keep them always in such a special grace. Third Order meetings take place on every 2nd Sunday of the month, and all Tertiaries, brothers and sisters, wear full Carmelite habit (as featured in the picture above).Church of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Campos - blog and newsFlos Carmeli Vitis Florigera blog of the OrderShort history of the Society of St John Vianney in Campos, Brazil

CATHOLIC FAITH, DEVOTIONS AND TEACHING

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT DEVOTION

DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

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DEVOTION TO THE MOST HOLY ROSARY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Why we should meditate on Our Lady's titles and invocations of Loreto Litany

This litany to the Blessed Virgin Mary was composed during the Middle Ages. The place of honor it now holds in the life of the Church is due to its faithful use at the shrine of the Holy House at Loreto. It was definitely approved by Sixtus V in 1587, and all other Marian litanies were suppressed, at least for public use. Its titles and invocations set before us Mary's exalted privileges, her holiness of life, her amiability and power, her motherly spirit and queenly majesty. The principle that has been followed in their interpretation is the one enunciated by the same Pius IX: "God enriched her so wonderfully from the treasury of His divinity, far beyond all angels and saints with the abundance of all heavenly gifts, that she . . .should show forth such fullness of innocence and holiness, than which a greater under God is unthinkable and which, beside God, no one can even conceive in thought." Hence, whatever virtue and holiness is found in angels and saints must be present in Mary in an immeasurably higher degree.

Reflection on the titles of the litany will unfold before us the grand picture of our heavenly Mother, even though we know only little about her life. We will also come to see why Mary's example, guidance, and help is the need of the hour (from Intermirifica, Litany of Loreto).

DEVOTION TO THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Stations of the Cross - click on the image to enter - it works now!

All the Saints achieved sanctity by meditating upon the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. By this devotion, we have an irresistible and proven method to advance in our love for Our Divine Master as well as overcoming all our personal faults. The Passion of Jesus is also a treasure-house whose wealth will never suffer devaluation and obtains for us from the Eternal Father, Who cannot resists this devotion, all of those graces essential for our salvation as well as to that of others. This is the reason for which the Crucifix occupies a place of Honour upon our Altars, our Churches, our tombstones, in Christian bedrooms, as well as in the households of Christian families."One thing only I do know", says St Paul,"and that is Jesus and Jesus Crucified" (1 Cor 2:2).And St Augustine:"I know of no remedy more effective against the sins of the flesh (i.e. concupiscence) than the Passion of my Lord Jesus Christ".Saint Bonaventure: "The Passion of Jesus dissolves in Divine Love even the most callous hearts of obstinate sinners".Saint Albert the Great:"One gains more merits by meditating lovingly on the Passion than by scourging oneself most severely or by fasting on bread and water every day of one's life".Always keep in mind the devotion of (King) Saint Louis to the Relics of the Passion. Saint Teresa of Avila began her spiritual ascent to high sanctity following a vision of Jesus after His Scourging and a glimpse of the "Ecce Homo"...behold also Saint Therese of The Child Jesus contemplating the Holy Face.Second only to the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the merits of which are applied to our souls and which truly renews before us, albeit in an unbloody manner, the Infinite Sacrifice of the Lamb of God on Calvary, the Holy Hour of Reparation and the Way of the Cross consitute the most effective practices regarding the Devotion of the Most Holy Passion of Jesus.

The Way of the Cross Final Prayer - St Alphonsus Liquori

O God who for the world's redemption was pleased to be born, circumcised, rejected by the Jews, betrayed by the kiss of Judas, bound with chains, led like an innocent lamb to sacrifice, and shamefully presented before Annas, Caiphas, Pilate, and Herod, accused by false witnesses, beaten with whips, buffeted, insulted, spat upon, crowned with thorns, smitten with a reed, blindfolded, stripped of thy garments, fastened with nail to the cross and lifted high, reputed among thieves and made to drink vinegar, and wounded with a lance; O by these most sacred sufferings which unworthy as I am, I thus commemorate, and by Thy Holy Cross and death deliver me Lord from the pains of hell and deign to lead me where thou didst lead the penitent thief who was crucified by thy side; Thou, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest world without end. Amen

THE THREE GREAT HAIL MARY'S DEVOTION

"While St. Mechtilde was beseeching the glorious Virgin to assist her in her hour of death, Our Lady appeared to her and said: 'I will certainly. But I also want you to say three special Hail Mary's to me every day.

"'The first will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature that after God I have the greatest power in heaven and on earth. In the hour of your death I will use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power far from you.

"''The second Hail Mary will be said in honor of the Son of God Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to me. In the hour of your death I will fill your soul with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled.

"'The third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Spirit Who filled my soul with the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy. In your last hour I will then change the bitterness of death into divine sweetness and delight.' "